In a message dated 9/27/2003 8:04:56 AM Mountain Standard Time, t-bar@worldnet.att.net writes: The first three always went by their middle names. My families had this naming tradition as well. Both my McNair family (James Bonner McNair was always called Bonner), who immigrated from Scotland to Ireland to NC to Tennessee, then on to Little Rock, AR. Also all of my Parks in Northern AR in the Stone County area did this...James Cledith was always called Cledith and Harold Dean was always just Dean. Was this a common naming practice back then...or a regional thing...or something from where they came from which was probably Ireland/England/Scotland? Nancy Parks Phoenix, Az